Peter Österberg, PhD: Finland's collapse is continuing, but no politician or public manager admits to having done anything wrong

“Finland, previously number one in the OECD, has fallen to 32st place among 38 countries. The ministry says the collapse in education levels is reflected in low employment.” This can be added to a list of 33 points reported by international researchers, Finnish government officials and Finnish organizations. Interestingly, no politician or public leader admits to having done anything wrong. 6 pages.

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”Finland, previously number one in the OECD, has fallen to 31st place among 38 countries. The ministry says the collapse in education levels is reflected in low employment.”

” – It looks really bad, because right now the level of education in Finland has dropped. We are already below 40 percent, so we have gone backwards in the last two years," says OAJ's education manager Nina Lahtinen.”

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If you compare the OECD rankings, Sweden remains in 10th place in the ranking, that is, the upper quartile. Finland is in the lower quartile. There are two quartiles in between.

This difference also applies to economics, entrepreneurship and innovative thinking. And according to Henrik Wickström (Sfp), a Finnish politician, the decline has been going on for almost 20 years.

Here is a list of things reported by international researchers, Finnish government personnel, and Finnish organizations:

October 2019. Finland is characterized by tribalism (Gifford, Pagel).
October, 2020. There are ~100,000 poor children in Finland (Finnish media).
November, 2020. Finland has a child obesity epidemic (Eva Roos, Folkhälsan) .
February, 2022. Helsingin Sanomat reported on challenges with the working climate at the University of Helsinki (Parikka, HS)
March, 2022. Nutritional deficiency. Many Finns have been convinced to reduce their consumption of butter and salt (THL).
April, 2022. Women's relational aggressiveness (psychological domestic violence) is the major challenge (Helsingfors Police Department).
May 14, 2022. Too many Finnish children fail in reading comprehension and numeracy – the foundation for epistemic and instrumental rational thinking (Stanovich, 2011, 2016) (Ministry of Education and Culture). Why? see point 2.
September 3, 2022. Finland has lost 600,000 simple jobs (Skinnari, Finland's minister of Development).
October 22, 2022. Finland has the highest rate of Alzheimer's/dementia in the world (Österberg, 2022).
October 25, 2022. Between 2007 and 2022, Finland had a budget deficit (losing money every year); Sweden had a budget surplus (earning money every year)
November, 2022. 20% of children and adolescents born in 1997 or later have mental health challenges (Pekkarinen, Finnish-Swedish Children's Rights Days (Finlandssvenska Barnrättsdagen).
(Harald, HBL; 2022).
February, 2023. Swedish-speaking Finns have better health and live longer (City of Helsingfors, at Arbis).
April 11, 2023. The functional capacity of Finns is deteriorating (Helsingin Sanomat).
August 3, 2023. Research at the University of Helsingfors has, and I quote, collapsed (Bäckgren, HS).
Finland has the highest incidence of Alzheimer's/dementia in the world:
“The country with the highest incidence of Alzheimer’s disease is Finland. There are 54.65 cases of Alzheimer’s per 100,000 people in the country. These figures and statistics place Finland in the extremely high range for incidence and prevalence of the disease. Interestingly, women are much more likely to get Alzheimer’s in Finland than men. For every 100,000 people, Alzheimer’s affects 55.32 women compared to just 52.10 men” ( WPR
Finland's Alzheimer's rate is twice as high as in neighboring Sweden:

19.9% of Finns who die die of dementia, and in particular Alzheimer's disease.

Prevalence of welfare diseases in Finland.

Among Swedes who die, 9.8% die of dementia/Alzheimer's.

Prevalence of welfare diseases in Sweden.
November, 2023. Psychological domestic violence (relational aggression) and fatal violence against young children have increased (Pekkarinen, Finnish Children's Commissioner, at the Finnish-Swedish Children's Rights Days). Why? see point 2.
November, 2023. There are ~130,000 poor children in Finland (Finnish researcher at the Finnish-Swedish Children's Rights Days). That is an increase of 30% from 2020.
November, 2023. Finland has the highest prevalence of depression within the EU (Estlander, Bensow, at the Finnish-Swedish Children's Rights Days).
November, 2023. 40% of Finnish schoolchildren are victims of psychological domestic violence (Estlander, Bensow, at the Finnish-Swedish Children's Rights Days). Psychological violence at home = relational aggression, is typically female.
February 13, 2024. Finland's national debt/GDP: 74%; Sweden's national debt/GDP: 17% (Ingves).
February 28, 2024.the working climate in Finnish workplaces is poor (Yle).
July 26 - August 11, 2024. At the Summer Olympics in Paris, Finland won 0 medals. Sweden: 11 medals (one per million).
2024. 50% of Finnish women and 33% of Finnish men, over 45 years old, are expected to suffer from a serious brain disease (Finnish Brain Foundation). They meant Alzheimer's/dementia.
”One in two women and one in three men over the age of 45 will develop a serious brain disease during the rest of their lives.

Indirectly, the disease affects even more people – family members, friends and colleagues.”
August 31, 2024. Mental ill health costs 1 billion euros per year (Myntti, Vasabladet).
December 10, 2024.Entrepreneurship and innovation thinking are at rock bottom. Why is Sweden doing so much better? (Atte Jääskeläinen, Sitra).
April 1, 2025. Too many Finnish children fail in reading comprehension and numeracy – the foundation for epistemic and instrumental rational thinking (Stanovich, 2011, 2016) (Ministry of Education and Culture, April 2025). Same as 2022. Why? See point 2.
July 7, 2025. According to my former employer, the University of Helsinki, 77% of Finnish women and 70% of Finnish men are expected to receive a psychological, behavioral, and psychiatric diagnosis. 🥶

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July 26, 2025. Finland's economy is back to 1996 levels (Link to source).
November 25, 2025 Henrik Wickström claimed:

”Today, the European Commission announced that it is proposing to place Finland under the EU's excessive deficit procedure. The reason is that Finland's government debt will exceed the equivalent of 90 percent of GDP next year.”.

”What worries me, of course, is that we haven't had growth in almost 20 years.”
December 2, 2025. Anxiety-related sick leave has skyrocketed (Svenska folkskolans vänner JHO-utbildning).

The red line shows how anxiety-related sick leave has escalated. Photo/copyright: Peter Österberg.
December 25, 2025, Finnish MTV uutiset reported that Finland had fallen to 31st out of 38 in the OECD school rankings.
February 10, 2026. The prevalence of death by obesity in Finland is 46% greater compared to Sweden (Link to source).